Chapter 20

Elle slept longer than usual, emerging from her bed in late morning. A pang on her head reminded her again of her wound. Sitting down before her vanity mirror, she delicately redressed the wound, cleaning it before replacing the bandaging. Her mind was still tired, yet it went over the previous night in her mind. She had been attacked, but that was not what was consuming her thoughts. Her teacher had helped her, he had bandaged her wound, and he had told her his name, Erik. Erik. That name still felt strange to think about. He was a real man, with a real name, and with real feelings. If only she hadn't questioned him! Now Elle was not sure if she would ever see him again, and that would be the real punishment. She admitted to herself that she deserved it, but she hoped that he would be able to forgive her for her impertinence. It was not her place to question him and it was his right to cease the lessons. But how she would miss them!

With her hands she began to pull her hair up, but then on seeing the bandage she let the blonde locks fall back down. If Elle left her hair down then it could cover the dressing. Then she got up from the seat, pulling a dress out of her wardrobe and laying it on her bed. She changed from her nightgown into an off-white dress and slipped on a pair of shoes. The sky told her the time, letting her know that she was late in rising. There was no one to notice though, for her father often breakfasted alone if at all. Her stomach was not hungry, so she had no need of stopping at the dining room. Rehearsal for that day was to be held in the afternoon, therefore she had not missed anything.

Without having anything to occupy her time, Elle decided that it was time to visit her father. He was still grieving, and therefore was difficult to have a conversation with, so although she wished to confide in him she knew that he was not in his mind to advise. It was a shame that her mother's death happened when it did for the management of the opera house, in her opinion, was much better in his hands than the directors. The directors took advantage of their new power and began handling everything on their own without conferring with him. Elle thought it was time that her father knew what was going on in his opera house, even if he was still not ready to get back to work.

This resolution led her to leave her room, locking it behind her, and head off in the direction of his office. On her way she passed by her mother's room and slowed her footing, almost forgetting her purpose. She had not entered her mother's room since her death and was still not ready to. So Elle walked on, eventually making it to the management wing. As she approached the office of her father she was stopped by noises she heard across the hall. There was shouting coming from the office of the directors. "How could she just disappear?"

It was the voice of Mister Tremaine. Elle soon forgot about the purpose behind her trip as her interest was engaged by the yelling. She was not sure who the director was talking about, and she wanted to find out. After all she was the owner's daughter and worked on the show, she had a right to know what was going on. Therefore Elle turned her direction and headed straight for the directors office. She knocked before entering, and after she did enter she quickly scanned the room. Mister Bolster was sitting in a chair by his desk, Mister Tremaine was pacing back and forth, occasionally raising his arms in the air, and Hector was lounging in an armchair at the side of the room.

Tremaine did not pay her any attention when she entered. Instead he continued on pacing and ranting. Bolster watched him walk, his eyes moved from left to right with Tremaine's movements. "What are we going to do? We have no star! We will have to cancel tomorrow's show. All of that money will have to be returned! And to think, we have a full house!"

"What happened?" Elle asked, confused as to what was going on. She was only gone one night and the directors had yet again another crisis, or at least it seemed that way by the way that Tremaine was raving. She looked around from man to man, but the only one who acknowledged her presence was Hector. "What is going on?"

Hector immediately glanced up at her as she came into the room. Bolster sat still, he stopped watching Tremaine but was now staring at his desk. When Elle asked those questions Hector opened his mouth to answer her, but was rudely interrupted. "It is-"

"Estelle, she is gone!" Tremaine exclaimed to Elle, interrupting his own son. He was in such an excitable mood that he did not notice his son was about to answer her, and it was right when Hector was that he realized Elle had asked a question.

"What do you mean, she is gone?" Elle asked, not fully comprehending. If it was true, and Estelle was indeed gone, then it was a moment for celebration, not distress. But alas, the directors liked the soprano and her disappearance strongly affected the performance that was set for the following day. She was the lead role and the show could not go on without someone taking her place. The question was why Estelle 'was gone', as they said. She most likely would not have left on her own without some warning. Besides she liked being on stage and would not take off so close to a performance. This was indeed strange news.

"She disappeared," Hector replied, offering Elle a chair to sit in. She accepted it and he continued. "There was a special rehearsal scheduled just for her this morning and she did not show. That is not like her. No one knows where she went and she did not leave a message of any sort. Not even her attendants know where she went."

He was right, that was definitely not like her. Estelle loved hearing herself sing and it was her idea, and insistence, to have those private rehearsals with the directors. Elle was not sure what to think. The directors, obviously, wanted their star back, yet it was possible for the opera to go on without her. They actually had some performers with talent who could hold the show on their own. Estelle was never that good anyway, but Elle realized many people did not admit to that. She sat in her chair by Hector, mindlessly adjusted her skirts as everyone sat in silence except for Tremaine, who was still pacing the floor vigorously.

Then after several minutes of this the door burst open. Everyone looked up from their silent reveries to see who it was that had the audacity to disturb them. Standing in the doorway was Madame Giry. Her face was calm and reposed, highly contrasting against Tremaine's troubled expression, as she entered the room. Not a hair was out of place in her gray bun, yet it was apparent that she had come there in a hurry. Her eyes immediately landed on the directors and, after closing the door behind her, she spoke directed towards them. Her voice displayed urgency, yet at the same time composedness, when she addressed them. "Monsieurs, Mademoiselle Estelle is back."

Mister Tremaine stopped walking mid-step. He stood as still as a statue and looked at Giry. This news was good indeed! But now he was not worried about her absence, but angry that the prima donna put them in such a panic. Being in the high strung mood that he was in it was easy for him to go from concerned to irritated in less than a second. When Giry stated that Estelle was back his eyebrows shot up and he demanded answers. "Where did she say she was?"

"She did not say a thing. Her attendants say that she has not spoken since her return," Madame Giry answered, keeping her cool despite the attitude of the director. Bolster looked up from his desk to glance at Giry, quietly watching the conversation between his partner and the woman. Elle and Hector were doing the same except from the opposite side of the office. Giry did not seem to notice anyone else in the room for all of her attention was on Mister Tremaine.

"Well, as long as she sings tomorrow that does not matter," he replied in his authoritative manner. He always spoke to Madame Giry in that way, as if he was above her. She always pretended not to notice and if she did she did not mention it to anyone.

"You do not understand me Monsieur Tremaine, she will not be singing tomorrow or in the near future," Madame Giry responded, explaining further. "I have seen her myself, just now that was where I came from, and she simply sits there and stares into space with a blank expression on her face. I do not know what is wrong with her, but she makes no human interaction of any kind. It is almost as if she if afraid to even open her mouth."

"She has to sing, we have her under contract!" Tremaine stated in a shout. He could not believe or entirely understand what he was hearing. How could his star soprano do this to them? It was an outrage! She signed a contract to sing for them and now she was backing out the day before the opening night of Romeo et Juliette. It was unacceptable behavior, even for a prima donna who was used to getting her way. Without her the show could not go on. These thoughts flew through his mind as he collapsed in the chair behind his desk.

"You will have to find someone else to fill her place," the woman said in response. She still stood by the door, holding her hands before her. Her answer seemed the most obvious, but to the directors it was almost impossible.

"There is no one else!" he exclaimed, leaning his elbows on his desk and holding his head with his hands. His glasses were about slipping off of his pointed nose, but this time he made no effort to fix them or push them back.

Hector sat up straight in his chair, finally interjecting in the conversation. His youthful mind was thinking over a way to fix this situation for his father and the opera house. To him this problem was not unsolvable and it seemed ridiculous to have to cancel a performance because one person decided to break their contract. A thought hit him. He looked up and across the room at the directors as he asked, "What about her understudy?"

Mister Bolster turned his eyes from his partner to the youth that spoke out. During this entire time he had remained silent, worried over what was going on. He did not look himself, for his was normally a jovial and good-natured man and now he was frowning instead of smiling. Tremaine's serious nature seemed to have rubbed off on him during the past several weeks. He answered Hector in a droning tone, almost as if he were uninterested in solving this predicament. "She has no understudy. That was part of our agreement."

Hector went back to thinking and Bolster went back to sitting quietly. Elle eyed the room, observing the people around her. Madame Giry seemed about ready to leave, but she simply stood there as if waiting for someone to dismiss her. After a couple minutes of silence Tremaine lifted his head from the desk and asked rhetorically to the entire room, "What will we tell the public? That a cat has caught our prima donna's tongue?"

Elle was thinking about what they should do the entire time. She took the moment after Tremaine asked his questions to state her own opinion of the matter. The situation did not seem that difficult to her and, although normally she would not expect them to use her advice, the directors only thought of canceling the show and therefore needed it. Her voice caused everyone to turn and look at her. "Excuse me Monsieurs, but I think I have a solution."

"And what might that be, young Mademoiselle?" Tremaine asked, wondering what it was that she had to say.

"Let Isabel sing Estelle's part," she answered. It seemed the best course of action to her. Since the opera house opened she thought that Isabel was the better singer when compared with Estelle, and she deserved the lead role a lot more. "She is talented and she knows the songs."

"Then who, might I ask, will take the role of Romeo's page?" he asked in reply.

Elle had not thought of that when she chose Isabel as the proper person to take Estelle's place, but she answered, "There must be someone around here who will be able to."

For another moment there was silence, but then Hector broke it with an exclamation. "I have a brilliant idea!" he shouted. Then he turned in his seat to face Elle, who was sitting next to him. "Elle, you can play the part of Stephano."

"She sings?" Mister Bolster asked out of curiosity on hearing Hector's idea. Both directors gazed at her, wondering how she could sing and them not know about it. Since they never heard her sing they found his solution a bit odd.

"No," Hector replied, getting excited at his idea. To him it was wonderful and he was excited for Elle. He still remembered the song she sang when he had caught her in the chapel. Her voice was the most beautiful voice that he had ever heard. "She does more than sing, she invokes the beauty and grace of the angels."

"You speak very highly of her," Bolster responded.

"You have not heard her sing," Hector stated, expressing that only those who have heard her sing truly know what he is talking about. He did not wait to ask Elle though, he assumed that she would take the part willingly.

Tremaine got up from his desk, his eyes on Elle. He had cooled down and was ready to get things underway. "Why didn't you tell us that we had a singer in our mists? No matter, but the show must go on as scheduled! There is no way that we can cancel it now; we have a full house tomorrow. You must take the part of Stephano."

Elle looked up at him from her seat. She had not voiced her opinion about this idea when Hector mentioned it, but now she found her chance. She had never sung before in public and felt that it was a bad idea. Actually she hadn't even liked the fact that Hector was able to hear her sing. "But monsieur, I have never been in an opera before."

"Then this will be your first. Come, come, we don't have all day. Let's get you to the dressing room and ready for rehearsal. Then we can hear how good you really are," Tremaine replied, looking from Elle to his son. He was skeptical about her talent because, he figured, since she lived there they would have heard her by now if she was really any good, but he still decided to give her a chance. He trusted his son's judgment and was ready to give the girl a part if that meant the opera would not have to be cancelled and all the money returned.

"Don't worry Elle," Hector whispered to her after noticing the expression on her face. "You have what it takes and you will be great."

Madame Giry was instructed to take Elle over to the dressing room and prepare her for rehearsals. Elle, after much consideration, finally relented and followed the woman out of the office. She was nervous about singing for an audience, but if it meant the success of her father's opera house then she would do it. Plus she was also happy that the directors accepted her idea of letting Isabel take the role of Juliette, it would be a great opportunity for her to shine and she would be able to do much more with the role than Estelle ever would.

The two women found Isabel in one of the dressing rooms and Elle was there to see her expression when she was told that she was going to take the lead. First she inquired as to why Estelle would not be performing, as a considerate person must, and once it was explained to her she expressed her excitement. She was also worried about singing in her first lead role, as Elle was in singing in her first opera, but that was to be expected.

Elle already knew the role that she was to be taking because she had been to every rehearsal and knew the entire opera by heart. That was why she seemed to be the most perfect candidate for filling in an empty role. Rehearsal was to start in half an hour, and people would hear Elle sing for the first time. She was actually going to be in an opera! At the time she did not think of it, but she was going to fulfill her childhood dream.

The stage was waiting for her.

A/N: Thank you all for reading and reviewing. I am glad that it seemed many of you enjoyed the last chapter. Erik will be coming up again shortly. Anyway, please take some time to review and thanks again for reading.

RainsPhantom- lol, I know what you mean. Glad you liked the chapter.

Angie-smalltowngirl- Thank you.

fracturedreality04- lol, yes he did.

Kchan88- Thanks.

Anri- That's great. I'll try, thanks for reviewing.

TheWyldeWestWynd- lol! Thanks.